Simplify Your Family

Creating a Simple, Godly Life while homeschooling 4 children eight years and younger.

Deuteronomy 6:7 "And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."

Friday, June 14, 2013

These, plus many more reasons, are why I should NOT be homeschooling my children:

I have no patience. I would love to have this but this just does not come easily for me. All you have to do is ask my entire family and the family I grew up with and they will tell you how often I struggled with my patience. With four kids and one of those four being a toddler, I would think I would need an extraordinary amount of patience to homeschool. Especially when, that said toddler, loves to dump anything that is liquid out all over her body in any given time of the day!

That curriculum you have to buy is expensive! This family of six has a hard time keeping food in the house, let alone purchase curriculum! Are you crazy? Public school is free! Why and the world should I homeschool them and spend our money on books when they will do it for me for free?! I mean, we pay them through our taxes anyway, might as well use what we have paid for.

I only have a high school diploma...and I'm not even sure how I got that! Now I am not saying I was a horrible student but I definitely was not on the A honor role . How in the world am I supposed to teach my children parts of speech or the dreaded Geometry? Surely someone more educated, who does not know my child, will do a much better job than me.

My husband occasionally has to stay overnight for work. If I am going to have my kids here all day, I need HELP! And with my husband gone overnight (sometimes for a whole week) every other month, this is just not possible. How will I make it through my days with the kids still alive and my sanity still intact? No, this would just be too hard.

I am a self proclaimed control/neat-freak. Everything in my world has it's place and if anything gets out of it's place, this momma is tempted to go nuts! I mean, even my shelves in my kitchen are labeled! You want me to have 4 children running around this house with pencils, markers, Legos, play-doh, and barbies flying everywhere; are you kidding me?! Not to mention the many trips they will have to my neatly organized kitchen, pulling out Doritos by the handful. No I don't think so.

I am not crafty and I hate crafts! This all goes back to #5 and my need for a clean/organized house. Crafts create mess and I don't like mess. Now this may not be too bad for someone with say a 10 year old or older but my kids are still young. I could never do all the crafts they want to do! Just go take a look in my basement storage room and you will see many scrapbook projects: incomplete, sewing machines: never used, and many other ideas that just never seemed to happen. See, I like to think I am crafty, but it just never works out!

Peace and Quiet are my friends. Extrovert? No not me, ever! Now I often wish I was like my husband in this but this is not the way God made me. I am very much an introvert. I do not like large crowds (aka field trips!), small talk, or attention put on me. I enjoy the quiet, safe confines of my home, a good book and my coffee. Now does this mean I am a hermit? I do not believe so. I still enjoy my time with close friends and getting out in the sunshine; I just can't do this for long, I eventually need my quiet time. If you do not know this yet let me tell you, children ARE NOT QUIET! Especially a couple of my children. I swear they do not have a quiet bone in their body. Just going to the restroom and having to put the toilet seat down sounds like an entire building fell on our house!

I enjoy cooking but not that much.They want to be fed 4-5 times a day. I just can't fathom that. Do they really have to eat that much and that often? If they didn't then maybe I could do this but until then, I don't think so! I am not your personal chef kiddos. That is what the lunch ladies are paid for.

No me time? Gym, lunch dates, shopping, trip to the salon, how in the world am I to get these things done with four children around me 24/7. I mean seriously, do they ever leave? I know I said in #7 that I like time alone but occasionally a momma needs to get out and see her close friends or she will be committed to a local insane asylum. I am serious here! And you do not want to see me in sweat pants every day.. it is not a pretty picture believe me!

I am just too tired! I have a 2 year old for goodness sake. And like I said before, you leave her for a split second and she is pouring something gooey all over herself! I am a tired, worn out momma. I can't be adding something else to my plate; it's just not possible. I might physically break if I do that.

So if you feel like telling me why I should NOT be homeschooling, please feel free to check this list first and if it is on here, remember, I already know I am incapable and I don't need the reminder.

This journey of homeschooling, I do not do because I am capable. I am not in anyway capable to do this on my own. I do this because this is what God has called me to! And if God has called me to it, he will equip me, through the Holy Spirit, to have all it takes to teach my children.

If you are on the fence about homeschooling your child, I pray that you have read this over and over, and then completely erased it all! This is exactly what I told myself constantly when God called me to this ministry but you know what, it has been the best ministry of my life! Pray about it and if God is calling you to it all you have to do is say YES and let Him do the rest. Don't allow Satan to take over your thoughts!*if you have not gotten the point yet, this is a satire. Just meant for fun and enjoyment. I love my children more than life itself and in no way do I regret my time with them. And no I DO NOT want them to leave :)

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

So today begins our first day of summer break. Although we continue our reading and math, for the most part, this is our summer!!! And I am so excited to say we finished one FULL year of homeschooling!

If you have read more on my blog or have followed me for awhile you know that we homeschooled for half a year last year, but due to trying to get my health back on track and variety of other reasons, they ended up returning to our local school to end out their year. So this is our first full year of school and I am so glad I made it this year. It wasn't without it struggles at times but it also was full of joy and rewards at the same time. Like....

Playing Bingo together..

...or seeing little smiles while completing their schoolwork...

...or dressing up and exploring history together, no matter the age...

...or finding out about the wonders of God's world together in our Science experiments...

...or enjoying everyday dress-up with my little girls and their variety of style...

...or many art projects...

...and silly faces...

...or a ton of field trips like those to Jamestown...

....and Virginia Safari Park...

...or just the fact of seeing how far we came from the beginning of the year....

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Working around young women I see this a lot but last night, coming home from a women’s ministry meeting, it really got me thinking more about this problem in our world today.

Driving home I was thinking about what a blessing the women in our church are when I pulled up behind a man and a woman on a moped at the stop light. Sitting there for a few minutes, (this is one of the lights in our little town that seem to take forever to turn) I noticed this man reach his arm back and grab this lady’s bottom and squeeze, for more than just a second. At first I just laughed and thought, `seriously, doesn’t he know I am right behind him’, but then I really started thinking how disrespectful this was. Yes maybe this is something fine to do in private with your wife , but in public knowing there are cars right behind you? Totally disturbed me!

Young men, remember your role with these young ladies. You are to protect and cherish these young women. They are not an object for your sexual desires or someone you can boss around for that matter. They are to be your help-mate, an extension of you, to help you just as you help her in this journey on Earth for God’s glory. What some of you young men are doing right now is just beating these young women down and causing them so much pain that you probably don’t even see, because it happens inside, quietly, unseen and is covered up with a mask that everything is alright when it’s not. Cherish these girls. Open doors for them, pull out their seat for them to sit at the table, when you see them carrying something, carry it for them, and just be there for them. Be a gentleman.

Now to be completely honest, 16 year old me may have thought different in this situation, but 16 year old me did not have much self-worth and viewed my place with boys the very wrong way. I have matured over the years and thanks to God I have realized my worth through Him, who He made me to be. And that too is something that is missing from today’s society. Young girls that have no clue of their self-worth and how valued and treasured they are to God. They often see their value and worth through how a boy sees them. If a boy thinks they are sexy, cool, or beautiful then that is when their self-worth grows but what happens when that boy finds someone that he feels is sexier? What happens to her self-worth then, how does she view herself then? Typically she goes out looking again for that boy that will look at her in this way again, completely forgetting how she is already viewed so perfectly through the eyes of God. Ladies, you are fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalms 139:14).

And if you are a parent reading this, this is our responsibility to God and His children that He has entrusted to us. To raise up those boys to become men and treat all ladies with respect and love just as Christ treats the church (Ephesians 5:28). To raise up our girls to know their self-worth in God’s eyes not man’s so they know how they should be treated…and maybe to remind them that they do not need those boys at all. Parents in this world, as far as I see with some, need to step up and take more responsibility for their children and who they become because in the end God is going to ask us all how we have taken care of His children and if we can not say we have done our very best to raise them for Him then we have wasted our time here on earth.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

With a week of elections not going the way you hoped and a sick little one at home it can be very easy to loose our joy and forget to focus on our blessings. But I know I still have so much to be thankful for this week and God is STILL in control!

My thankfulness list this week:

My parents and the kids' grandparents. I am so thankful for the loving, beautiful Christian parents God blessed me with. Though we may not always agree on everything, we still have an amazing relationship and a love that will last forever. And there are no better grandparents for my children. My children love them so much!

The USA! While so many others are out there complaining about where they think the US is headed, I am focusing on how much we still have to be thankful for in this amazing country. We still have our freedom. We are still better off than more than half the World. We still have our God. He is still in control of it all if we just keep our focus and prayers with Him, he will take care of us.

Friends- those who stick there through the good and bad. I am reminded of a song I learned as a girl scout that I think is very fitting for my thankfulness of real friends, kinda corny but fitting "make new friends but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold."

Modern Technology. As much as I may talk down on it a lot (which is weird for someone whose husband works in IT), I am very thankful for the wonderful advances we have today. Without it I wouldnt be able to sit here right now typing, on my bed, while my daughter lays on top of the screen yelling to watch Elmo!!

Anything CHOCOLATE. Last week it was coffee, which is like my life support, but next in line would definitely have to be chocolate. I mean, what girl can live without chocolate right?

Grace. If it weren't for God's amazing grace, I would not be where I am today. The past is behind me and I am thankful for the future He has given me now because of His amazing grace that is made new every day.

My nice cozy big comfy blanket to cuddle up in each and every night when the days start to get cold. I love the winter time for this, not much better of a feeling.

What are you thankful for this week? Share with me below or comment.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. Phillipians 4:8

I know, it's not Sunday like I had planned on posting this. We have had some sick kids this week and life has just happened. But I have still been faithful in praying for my husband.

Our week last week, the first week of praying for my husband, started off with my husband being home for two days and us pretty much stuck in our house. Hurricane Sandy was making her appearance on the east coast and since my husband works for a company on the east coast, since they were closed he was closed. I was thankful for this because it was pretty nasty weather where we live as well, Southwest Virginia, and I really didn't like the thought of him traveling.

As a lot of you mothers can probably sympathize though, it's not always easy when hubby is home all day. While I was thankful for the extra time with him and the extra hands, our school and regular routine had to go on and that can be pretty difficult when Daddy is home.

The first day was great. We took the day off of schoolwork and just hung out with Daddy. By day two though, we had to get some work done, but all I or the kids wanted to do was hang out with Daddy. In the end it went pretty well though, it kind of pushed the kids to finish their schoolwork quickly.

So through all this is was a little hard to remember to keep that time in the morning to pray for my husband, but I am thankful I did. I saw him hard at work with his job, doing the things he needed to do when he went back on Wednesday and then coming home to us at the end of the night, leaving work at work. I also had a new found love and appreciation for him that only God could have given me. I wanted to do for him, I wanted to submit and be his help-mate, more than anytime before. God granted us a peace and I am hoping he felt the same through my prayers.

So, how did your first week of prayers go? Link up your post below, I would love to read it!

Saturday, November 3, 2012

November is the time of year that everyone starts posting on Facebook (or other social media) what they are thankful for each day. While I believe we should remember what we are thankful for 365 days a year, not just 30, I do like this tradition in November. But this year instead of posting it just on Facebook, I wanted it to be somewhere that I could look at for days to come and years from now. So I am have a 4 Weeks of Thankfulness Blog Hop. I will share 7 things each week (on Thursdays, sorry a little off this week) of what I am thankful for, and you can join in on the fun. Post a link to your blog of your thankfuls and we can all remember how much the Lord has blessed us and many others and concentrate on the good in our life, not the bad.

Week 1:

My amazing Lord and Father. In times of loneliness, He was there. In times of failure, He was there. In times of struggle, He was there. In the most joyous of times, He was there. I can not even begin to describe how thankful I am for HIM.

My husband. He loves me for who I am and has stuck with me and our vows to each other for 8 years now, through all the ups and downs. Looking forward to many more years of being thankful for him.

COFFEE...yes I am very thankful for my coffee. My children would not want me around, let alone teaching them, if I did not have this necessity every morning!

My home. Our home isn't anything fancy and definitely not as big as you would think for 6 people, but it is what God has blessed us with and I am very thankful. While so many out there do not have any shelter, or are living in worse conditions, I am in my nice comfy, cozy, warm home and I am very thankful for it. (Even for the floor that is coming up in the kitchen and the carpet that needs replaced)

Clothes washer/dryer. Recently over the past month or so I have been dealing with a washer that cuts off mid cycle and a dryer that takes 2 hours to dry anything. I was blessed beyond measure with my Grandfather's (recently passed away) washer and dryer. They are still old, but they run so much better and they remind me of him every time I do laundry. Kind of makes me enjoy doing laundry now, well almost. This was a huge blessing to me.

My grandfather, the one I just spoke of who recently passed away. I have so many wonderful memories with him and look up to him so much. What an amazing man he was and a fantastic grandfather. I miss him greatly, but look forward to seeing him again one day with our Heavenly Father.

My children. If you had told me 8 years ago that I was going to have 4 children and homeschool them all, I would have called you nuts. But God's plans are always better than our own right? I am blessed beyond measure with my children and so very thankful for each and every one of them. They are bring something different and amazing to our family.

So....there is my Part of one of Thankfulness. Would you care to join me?

Click the link below to add your post. I look forward to reading them all!

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About Me

Alyssa is a happily married, homeschooling mom of 4. Boys-8 and 5yr, Girls- 6yrs and 20months. I am a born again Christian and Thank God for where I am today. Our God is an AWESOME God and I wouldn't be where I am without him.